Composite Handguard for a Firearm

ABSTRACT

A handguard for a firearm comprising: a tubular body configured to overlie a barrel of the firearm in spaced relationship, the tubular body formed of a fiber reinforced plastic composite; the tubular body including an elongated accessory mounting rail; and the elongated accessory mounting rail includes an inner elongated rail segment located beneath the fiber reinforced plastic composite which extends longitudinally along a length of the mounting rail; and the inner elongated rail segment is coupled to the a fiber reinforced plastic composite.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 62/015,626, filed Jun. 23, 2014, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to relates to firearms, and more particularly relates to a handguard for a firearm.

BACKGROUND

Certain firearms, such as certain semi-automatic and automatic firearms in the family of AR-15/M16 firearms, may include a tubular handguard which surrounds at least a portion of the length of the barrel.

Among other functions, the handguard may protect the firearm operator's hand from a heated barrel after the firearm is fired, particularly by inhibiting the operator's hand from contacting the barrel directly and subsequently suffering a burn or other injury. The handguard may also protect the barrel and other parts of the firearm contained therein from being damaged during use of the firearm.

The handguard may be made of metal, particularly aluminum. However, in response to extreme use of the firearm, a metal handguard may be understood to heat-up due to the high thermal conductivity of the metal, and thus defeat the objective of protecting the firearm operator's hand from heat associated with the barrel after the firearm is fired.

In order to address the problems associated with the heating of metal handguards, injection molded thermoplastic polymer handguards have been developed. However, while addressing the problems associated with the heating of metal handguards, the injection molded thermoplastic polymer may not offer adequate strength or other physical properties, such as impact resistance or heat resistance.

In order to increase either the impact resistance and/or heat resistance of an injection molded thermoplastic polymer, fiber reinforcement may be added to the injection molded thermoplastic polymer to provide a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic handguard.

However, a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic polymer, while possibly offering an increase in impact resistance and heat resistance as compared to an unreinforced thermoplastic polymer, still may suffer from impact resistance and heat resistance limitations as the fiber length of injection molded fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymers is generally less than 10 mm, and more commonly less than about 3 mm, due to the screw of the injection molding machine tending to break the fibers as they are processed within the barrel. Furthermore, fiber loading levels may generally be limited to about 20-30% by weight.

FIGURES

The features of this disclosure, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments described herein taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a firearm which includes a handguard according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the firearm of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of the portion of the handguard of the firearm of FIG. 1 bounded by rectangle 3;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of the handguard of the firearm of FIG. 1 taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the portion of the handguard of FIG. 4 bounded by circle 5;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view of an another embodiment of the handguard of the firearm of FIG. 1 according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of an elongated insert for another embodiment of the handguard of the firearm of FIG. 1 according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of another embodiment of the handguard of the firearm of FIG. 1 taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1 including the insert of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an attachment member which may be provided with a handguard according to the present disclosure to attach the handguard to the firearm.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It may be appreciated that the present disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention(s) herein may be capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Also, it may be appreciated that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting as such may be understood by one of skill in the art.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-2, there is shown a firearm 10 according to the present disclosure. As shown, the firearm 10 may comprise a gas-operated semi-automatic or full-automatic firearm. The gas operated system may be a direct gas impingement system, or a gas operated piston system. The direct gas impingement system directs hot propellant combustion gas from a fired cartridge directly to a bolt carrier to cycle the action of the firearm. More particularly, the gas pressure of the combustion gas pushes the bolt carrier rearward against the bias of a buffer spring, during which time the fired cartridge case is extracted from the chamber of the barrel and ejected from the firearm. As the gas pressure dissipates, the compressed buffer spring then decompresses and pushes the bolt carrier forward, during which time an unfired cartridge is removed from the magazine and loaded into the chamber of the barrel. In contrast to a direct gas impingement system, with a gas operated piston system, the gas forces a piston rod of a piston and the bolt carrier rearward to handle the extraction and ejection process, and thereafter the bolt carrier is forced forward by a decompression of the buffer spring to the closed position just as with direct impingement.

Even more particularly, firearm 10 may be a member of the family of AR-15/M16 firearms, which may include the AR-10, AR-15, M16, M16A1, M16A2, M16A3, M16A4, M4, M4A1, CAR-15, etc. Firearm 10 may also include a submachine gun, a compact assault rifle or a machine pistol. Firearm 10 may be configured to fire rifle cartridges (e.g. the 5.56x 45 mm NATO military cartridge, 5.56/.223 Remington, 300 Blackout, 0.308 Win/7.62x51, 5.45x39, 7.62x39, 458 SOCOM, and 0.50 Beowulf) as well as pistol cartridges (9 mm). Firearm 10 may be categorized as a rifle, a carbine, a mid-length or a pistol, particularly depending on barrel length.

As shown, firearm 10 includes a receiver 12 comprising a lower receiver 14 and mating upper receiver 16. Upper receiver 16 includes bolt carrier 30 including a firing pin, as well as a cartridge loading and unloading mechanism. A barrel 40 is affixed to the front end of upper receiver 16 and a butt stock 50 is affixed to the rear end of lower receiver 14. A trigger portion of upper receiver 16 fits into an access opening in lower receiver 14 and is integrated with the internal mechanism of upper receiver 16 and lower receiver 14. A pistol grip 60 is attached to lower receiver 14. A detachable (removable) box magazine as known in the art (not shown) may be inserted into a magazine receptacle 18 having a downwardly oriented access opening in lower receiver 14 for feeding cartridges to the cartridge insertion and ejection mechanism within upper receiver 16. The detachable magazine is capable of being loaded and unloaded while detached from firearm 10, and holds the cartridges side-by-side in one or more columns/rows, which may be staggered. In certain embodiments, the detachable magazine may also comprise a drum magazine in which the cartridges are positioned and fed in an unwinding spiral.

A handguard 80 is affixed at the front end of upper receiver 16, either to the upper receiver 16 or the barrel 40. Handguard 80 includes an elongated tubular body 82. FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of the portion of tubular body 82 bounded by the area of rectangle 3 of FIG. 1, while FIG. 4 shows a cross section of the tubular body 82 taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

As shown by FIG, 4, the tubular body 82 may have a substantially octagonal (i.e. having 8 sides) shaped cross-section. It will of course be understood that the cross-sectional profile could be oval, square, rectangular, or any cylindrical configuration which is hollow so as to surround at least a portion of the barrel 40 of firearm 10 without coming in contact therewith along the length of the barrel 40 that is surrounded. The length of tubular body 82 of handguard 80 may particularly be such that, when mounted on firearm 10, it extends from the front surface of the upper receiver 16 of the firearm 10 to a distance short of the end of the barrel 30 for easy and convenient gripping by the firearm operator and for protection of the operator's hand from the barrel 40. Handguard 80, and more particularly the tubular body 82, may also serve as a platform to mount accessories to the fore-end of the firearm 10, such as by providing one or more accessory mounting rails as discussed herein. As shown, the tubular body 82 of the handguard 80 may be provided by as a single piece tubular member.

As shown, tubular body 82 defines an elongated center passage 84 to contain the barrel 40, as well as certain other components (e.g. the combustion gas return tube or other accessories/features that may be incorporated at some future time) depending on the type of firearm 10. Tubular body 82 has an outer surface 86 and an inner surface 88, and may include a plurality of rows of apertures 90 formed therein, particularly to vent heat away from the barrel 40. While the apertures 90 are shown as having a circular shape, the apertures 90 may have any geometric shape including oval, ellipse, triangle, square, rhombus, diamond, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon, etc. The apertures 90 may be formed in the tubular body 82 after the handguard 80 is molded as discussed in greater detail below.

The top side 92 of the handguard 80, and the tubular body 82, may include an elongated accessory (mounting) rail 94, which provides a mounting platform for accessories (e.g. scope). As shown by FIG. 4, elongated rail 94 has a T-shaped cross-sectional profile (transverse to the longitudinal axis LA of the handguard 80. Elongated rail 94 may more particularly be a Weaver rail or a Picatinny rail, comprising a plurality of alternating equally spaced parallel ribs 96 and slots 98 extending transverse to the longitudinal axis LA of the handguard 80

Referring now to FIG. 5, handguard 80, and more particularly wall 83 forming tubular body 82, may be formed of a composite material comprising a plurality of constituent components. More particularly, the composite material may be a fiber reinforced plastic composite material, in which a reinforcement structure 100 in fiber form is embedded in a matrix (binder) composition 110 which comprises at least one polymer. The reinforcement structure 100 may also be referred to as the discontinuous phase while the matrix composition 110 may be referred to as the continuous phase. The composite material of the present disclosure may provide a handguard 80 formed of a thermal (non-conductive) insulator which provides high heat resistance, high impact strength and protects the operator's hand from the heat of the barrel 40, as well as inhibits the rail 94 as disclosed herein from heating, possibly adversely effecting the operation of any accessories mounted thereon.

The matrix composition 110 may be a thermoset matrix composition formed of at least one thermoset polymer. Exemplary thermoset polymers may include polyester, epoxy, viny ester, methyl methacrylate and phenolic.

The reinforcement structure 100 may particularly comprise at least one pre-manufactured fiber reinforcement layer 102, which is embedded in the matrix composition 110. A pre-manufactured fiber reinforcement layer may be understood as a fiber reinforcement layer which is first formed into a reinforcement layer separate from the matrix 110. Such would not include, for example, loose, random fibers which are packaged as such.

More particularly, the at least one fiber reinforcement layer 102 may comprise a plurality of fiber reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108. As shown by FIG. 5, fiber reinforcement layer 102 is shown to be an outer reinforcement layer, reinforcement layer 104 is shown to be an inner reinforcement layer and reinforcement layers 106, 108 are shown to be intermediate reinforcement layers between outer reinforcement layer 102 and inner reinforcement layer 104.

Any one or all of the fiber reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 may be provided by a tubular fiber reinforcement member, which is particularly provided without a terminating edge or a seam extending in the longitudinal direction of the tubular reinforcement member (which may be understood to be in the same as the longitudinal axis LA of the handguard 80). More particularly, any one or all of the reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 may be provided by a tubular braided and/or woven fabric sleeve. For example, any or all of the fiber reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 may comprise a braided fiber sleeve where the fibers (continuous) are arranged (woven) in a multi-directional (biaxial) braid such that the braided fiber bundles (braid yarns or strands) are arranged off-axis, i.e. at an angle of +/−45 degrees) relative to the longitudinal axis LA of the tubular sleeve. Stated another way, the fibers are not arranged parallel to a longitudinal axis LA of the tubular body 82. In such a manner, the fiber orientation may provide for balanced control of torsional and longitudinal loads placed on the handguard 80. Also, while the tubular braided sleeve may be manufactured with the fiber bundles at +/−45 degrees, the actual orientation in the molded tubular body 82 may be broader (due to stretching or other shaping of the tubular braided sleeve), such as within a range of in a range of +/−30 degrees to +/−60 degrees.

Any one or all of the reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 may also comprise a woven fiber sleeve where the fibers (continuous) are arranged (woven) such that the fiber bundles (braid yarns or strands) are arranged multi-directionally, particularly longitudinally (0 degrees) and transversely (90 degrees), relative to the longitudinal axis LA of the tubular sleeve. Stated another way, the fibers are arranged parallel and perpendicular to a longitudinal axis LA of the tubular body 82.

Any one or all of the fiber reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 may also be provided by a fiber mat, which may be a continuous strand mat or a chopped strand mat.

While it may be preferred that each of the fiber reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 are provided by independent (discrete) members, fiber reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 may also formed by a single mat which is wrapped in a coil to provide the fiber reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 is overlying/underlying relationship.

Any one or all of the reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 may be made of glass fibers, carbon fibers or a combination thereof. In a particular embodiment, reinforcement layers 104, 106 and 108 may be made of carbon fiber, while reinforcement layer 102 is made of glass fiber. In another embodiment, reinforcement layers 102, 104 and 108 may be made of carbon fiber, while reinforcement layer 106 made of glass fiber. The weight/area and the diameter of the layers 102, 104, 106, 108 may vary depending on the particular application of the handguard 80 and the type of firearm 10.

With regards to fiber loading, the tubular body 82, may have a fiber content in a range of 30% to 60% by weight of the tubular body 82, and more particularly have a fiber content in a range of 35% to 55% by weight of the tubular body 82. The fibers may comprise 80-95% by weight carbon fibers and 5%-20% by weight glass fibers. The tubular body may have a thickness in a range of 0.5 mm to 10 mm, and more particularly have a thickness in a range of 2 mm to 5 mm.

The handguard 80, and more particularly the tubular body 82, may be formed by a closed mold (i.e. two-sided) molding process, such as resin infusion molding process where the matrix composition (e.g. polymer resin) is introduced into a mold containing the preplaced/preloaded reinforcement structure 100. More particularly, the resin infusion molding process may be a resin transfer molding process, which may be vacuum (i.e. less than atmospheric pressure) or pressure (i.e. greater than atmospheric pressure) assisted, to obtain a tubular body 82 with low void content and high fiber loading.

As part of the process, a mold may be provided which has at least one molding cavity to form the tubular body 82, with the molding cavity being defined by opposing mold halves which may be referred to as the core half and cavity half. The molding process may begin by opening the mold and placing the inner reinforcement layer 104 over an elongated core half of a mold, which may be referred to as the mandrel. The intermediate layer 108 may then be placed over the inner layer 104, followed by intermediate layer 106 and the outer layer 102 placed over the intermediate layer 106 to form a four layer reinforcement structure 100. The mold may then be closed and clamped.

In alternative embodiments the reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 may be formed to a preformed shape of the tubular body 82 before being placed in the mold, such as being formed over a performing mandrel and then sprayed with a stiffening agent such as starch. The reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 may then all be introduced to the molding cavity simultaneously.

The matrix composition 110 may then introduced into the molding cavity (e.g. pumped in under pressure greater than gravity), such as while in the form of a catalyzed low viscosity polymer resin. The matrix composition 110 flows through the molding cavity and the interstices of the reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 while displacing air from the molding cavity. Air may be displaced from the molding cavity through one or more molding cavity vents formed in the mold, or a vacuum may be drawn on the molding cavity to remove air from the molding cavity as well as assist helping the matrix composition 110 flow through the molding cavity and reinforcement layers 102, 104, 106 and 108 located therein.

After the matrix composition 110 has filled the mold and undergone a suitable cure time, the mold may be opened and the handguard 80 comprising the tubular body 82 removed from the mold. The tubular body 82 may then be trimmed and apertures 90 formed (cut) therein. Alternatively the apertures 90 may be formed therein during molding.

As an alternative to resin transfer molding, other resin infusion molding processes which may be used to manufacture the handguard 80 of the present disclosure may include structural reaction injection molding, which may particularly make use of a thermoset polymer such as a polyurethane which is processed through a reaction injection molding mixhead.

Another closed mold (i.e. two-sided) molding process which may be used to produce handguard 80, particularly tubular body 82, may be compression prepreg process in which a reinforcement structure is saturated with a matrix composition 110 (a/k/a pre-impregnation), which is then compression molded with heat and pressure to form the molded article.

In the foregoing embodiment of the handguard 80, the ribs 96 and slots 98 forming the elongated rail 94 may be formed in the tubular body 82 during molding. Alternatively, the ribs 96 and slots 98 may be formed after molding the tubular body 82 by milling otherwise cutting the slots 98 into the tubular body 82, thereby forming the ribs there between.

In another embodiment of the handguard 80 of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 6, a lower elongated rail segment 120 may be formed by the tubular body 82 which has a planar upper surface 122, and an upper elongated rail segment 130 may be formed separately from the tubular body 80 (i.e. preformed before manufacture of the tubular body 80), with the separately formed upper elongated rail segment 130 having a planar lower surface 132, as well as preformed ribs 96 and slots 98. The separately formed upper elongated rail segment 130 may be formed of metal (e.g. aluminum, steel, titanium), or a plastic (e.g. a composite as disclosed herein, or injection molded from a thermoplastic composition).

The planar lower surface 132 of the upper elongated rail segment 130 may be coupled to the planar upper surface 122 of the lower elongated rail segment 120 particularly by adhesive bonding with a separate bonding agent located there between. Alternatively, adhesive bonding the upper elongated rail segment 130 to the lower elongated rail segment 120 may be accomplished using the matrix composition 110.

Such may be accomplished by placing the upper elongated rail segment 130 in the forming mold for the tubular body 82, such as by positioning the upper elongated rail segment 130 on the cavity half of the mold, prior to introducing the matrix composition 110. Thereafter, when the matrix composition 110 is introduced into the molding cavity and the lower elongated rail segment 120/tubular body 82 is formed, the upper elongated rail segment 130 becomes a molded-in insert, which may also be referred to as inserted molded, during molding of the tubular body 82 which is bonded directly to the matrix composition 110 during molding. Alternatively, such may also be accomplished after tubular body 82 and the lower elongated rail segment 120 are formed by removing the tubular body 82 from the mold before the matrix composition 110 of the tubular body 82 has reach full cure, in which case the upper elongated rail segment 130 may be pressed onto the lower elongated rail segment 120 and bonded thereto while the matrix composition 110 of the tubular body 82 is still curing.

Alternatively, the separately formed upper elongated rail segment 130 may be mechanically coupled, rather than adhesively coupled, to the lower elongated rail segment 120 with a detachable mechanical fastener (e.g. a threaded fattener such as a screw) or a non-detachable mechanical fastener (e.g. a rivet).

In another embodiment of the handguard 80 of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 7, elongated rail 94 may include an inner elongated rail segment 140 which, similar to upper elongated rail segment 130, may be separately formed from the tubular body 80 (i.e. preformed before manufacture of the tubular body 80). The separately formed inner elongated rail segment 140 may be formed of metal (e.g. aluminum, steel, titanium), or a plastic (e.g. profile extruded from a thermoplastic composition).

The inner elongated rail segment 140 may be used to eliminate any need for a separately formed upper elongated rail segment 130, as will become more evident from the disclosure herein. Similar to the first embodiment of the disclosure, the ribs 96 and slots 98 forming the elongated rail 94 may be formed in the tubular body 82 during molding without need for the separately formed upper elongated rail segment 130. Alternatively, the ribs 96 and slots 98 may be formed after molding the tubular body 82 by milling otherwise cutting the slots 98 into the tubular body 82, thereby forming the ribs there between. However, it should be recognized that the present disclosure does not preclude the upper elongated rail segment 130 from being used in conjunction with the preformed inner elongated rail segment 140. It should be understood that when the rail 94 is formed of a lower elongated rail segment 120 and a separate molded-in or attached upper elongated rail segment 130, the inner elongated rail segment 140 will be part of the lower elongated rail segment 120.

Referring briefly to FIG. 4, as shown the elongated rail 94 may have a thicker cross-sectional profile, to increase stiffness, than the remainder of the tubular body 82 of the handguard 80. As a result, depending on the loft and weight of the reinforcement structure, the reinforcement structure 100 may be further from the outer surface 86 of the rail 94 than for the remaining thinner portion of the tubular body 82, resulting in an outer portion of the rail thickness being formed predominately of the matrix composition 110 with little or no reinforcement structure 100.

In order to overcome the foregoing difficulty and geometrical challenges of the used materials, inner elongated rail segment 140 may be placed in the mold, such as by positioning the inner elongated rail segment 140 on the core half of the mold, prior to introducing the reinforcement structure 100. This will, in effect, decrease the thickness of the molding cavity used to form rail 94. Thereafter, when the reinforcement structure 100 is placed on the core half of the mold, the reinforcement structure 100 will overlie the inner elongated rail segment 140, which will force the reinforcement structure 100 closer to the outer surface 86 of the handguard 80. Thereafter, when the matrix composition 110 is introduced into the molding cavity and the tubular body 82 is formed, the inner elongated rail segment 140 becomes a molded-in insert during molding of the tubular body 82 which is bonded directly to the matrix composition 110 during molding. In addition to the inner elongated rail segment 140 positioning the reinforcement structure 100 closer to the outer surface 86 of the handguard 80, in such fashion the inner elongated rail segment 140 will be enclosed and protected towards the inside of the rail 94 by the reinforcement structure 100, as well as increase the stiffness of the rail 94.

In another embodiment of the handguard 80 of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 9, the handguard 80 may include attachment member 150 configured to attached the handguard 80 to the upper receiver 16 or the barrel 40 of firearm 10. The attachment member 150 may be formed of metal (e.g. aluminum, steel, titanium), or a plastic (e.g. a thermoset composite as disclosed herein, or injection molded from a thermoplastic composition). The attachment member 150 and the handguard 80 may attach to the upper receiver 16 or barrel 40 of firearm 10 in a manner as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,037,633 entitled “Handguard System For Firearms” and U.S. Pat. No. 8,464,457 entitled “Firearm Handguard System”, both assigned to the assignee of the present disclosure and both hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

As shown, attachment member 150 may have an outer profile 152 which substantially conforms to the inner profile 89 (FIG. 8) of the tubular body 82. The attachment member 150 may be coupled to the handguard 80 by being located within the elongated center passage 84 and interference (press-fit) against tubular body 82. Alternatively, the outer profile 152 of the attachment member 150 and/or the inner profile 89 of the tubular body 82 may be coated with a bonding agent to form an adhesive bond therebetween. Alternatively, adhesive bonding the attachment member 150 to the tubular body 82 of the handguard 80 may be accomplished using the matrix composition 110.

Such may be accomplished by placing the attachment member 150 in the forming mold for the tubular body 82, such as by positioning the attachment member 150 on the core half of the mold, prior to introducing the matrix composition 110. Thereafter, when the matrix composition 110 is introduced into the molding cavity and the tubular body 82 is formed, the attachment member 150 becomes a molded-in insert during molding of the tubular body 82 which is bonded directly to the matrix composition 110 during molding. Alternatively, adhesive bonding the attachment member 150 to the tubular body 82 of the handguard 80 may be accomplished using the matrix composition 110 as a coating which is applied to the tubular body 82 after molding, which may be brushed on. The attachment member 150 may then be placed in overlying relationship to the coating had held with pressure thereto until the matrix composition 110 has suitably cured.

While embodiments of the present invention have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the functions and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the present invention. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the teachings of the present invention is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific embodiments of the invention described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. The present invention is directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the scope of the present invention.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified, unless clearly indicated to the contrary.

LISTING OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

10 firearm

12 receiver

14 lower receiver

16 upper receiver

18 magazine receptacle

30 bolt carrier

40 barrel

50 butt stock

60 pistol grip

80 handguard

82 tubular body

83 wall of tubular body

84 center passage

86 tubular body outer surface

88 tubular body inner surface

89 inner profile

90 apertures

92 top side of handguard

94 accessory rail

96 rail ribs

98 rail slots

100 rail reinforcement structure

102 reinforcement layer

104 reinforcement layer

106 reinforcement layer

108 reinforcement layer

110 matrix composition

120 lower elongated rail segment

122 planar upper surface

130 upper elongated rail segment

132 planar lower surface

140 inner elongated rail segment

150 attachment member

152 outer profile

LA longitudinal axis 

What is claimed is:
 1. A handguard for a firearm comprising: a tubular body configured to overlie a barrel of the firearm in spaced relationship, the tubular body formed of a fiber reinforced plastic composite; the tubular body including an elongated accessory mounting rail; and the elongated accessory mounting rail includes an inner elongated rail segment located beneath the fiber reinforced plastic composite which extends longitudinally along a length of the mounting rail; and the inner elongated rail segment is coupled to the a fiber reinforced plastic composite.
 2. The handguard of claim 1 wherein: the fiber reinforced plastic composite comprises a fiber reinforcement structure embedded in a matrix composition.
 3. The handguard of claim 2 wherein: the fiber reinforcement structure comprises at least one tubular reinforcement member.
 4. The handguard of claim 3 wherein: the at least one tubular reinforcement member is formed to a preformed shape of the tubular body before the tubular reinforcement member is embedded in the matrix composition.
 5. The handguard of claim 3 wherein: the at least one tubular reinforcement member is provided without a terminating edge or a seam extending along a longitudinal direction of the tubular reinforcement member.
 6. The handguard of claim 3 wherein: the at least one tubular reinforcement member is a tubular sleeve.
 7. The handguard of claim 6 wherein: the tubular sleeve comprises at least one of a woven sleeve and a braided sleeve.
 8. The handguard of claim 7 wherein: the tubular sleeve comprises a tubular braided sleeve with a biaxial braid.
 9. The handguard of claim 8 wherein: the tubular braided sleeve comprises fiber bundles which are not arranged parallel to a longitudinal axis of the tubular body.
 10. The handguard of claim 3 wherein: the at least one tubular reinforcement member comprises a plurality of tubular reinforcement members; and at least a one of the tubular reinforcement members is formed of carbon fiber; and at least a one of the tubular reinforcement members is formed of glass fiber.
 11. The handguard of claim 2 wherein: the matrix composition comprises a thermoset polymer.
 12. The handguard of claim 8 wherein: the thermoset polymer comprises at least one of an epoxy, a polyester, a vinyl ester, a methacrylate and a phenolic.
 13. The handguard of claim 1 wherein: an upper portion of the elongated accessory mounting rail comprises a plurality of alternating ribs and slots extending transverse to a longitudinal axis if the tubular body.
 14. The handguard of claim 1 wherein: the rail comprises an upper elongated rail segment coupled with the tubular body; and the upper elongated rail segment extends longitudinally along a length of the rail.
 15. The handguard of claim 14 wherein: the upper elongated rail segment is at least one of mechanically coupled and adhesively coupled with the tubular body.
 16. The handguard of claim 14 wherein: the upper elongated rail segment forms an upper portion of the rail; and the tubular body forms a lower portion of the rail.
 17. The handguard of claim 1 wherein: the inner elongated rail segment is at least one of mechanically coupled and adhesively coupled to the a fiber reinforced plastic composite.
 18. The handguard of claim 17 wherein: the inner elongated rail segment is adhesively coupled with the fiber reinforced plastic composite during forming of the tubular body.
 19. The handguard of claim 18 wherein: the inner elongated rail segment is adhesively coupled with the fiber reinforced plastic composite by the matrix composition.
 20. The handguard of claim 1 further comprising: an attachment member to attach the handguard to the firearm; and the attachment member is coupled with the tubular body. 